I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying “Laughter is the best medicine”?
That’s because there is wisdom in these words. Happiness and joy are essential qualities that are necessary in our process of cultivating self love. Joy shuts down cortisol, adrenaline, and other deteriorating processes that cause stress and keep us from being present and at our best.
When we experience joy, laughter and engage in playful activities we stimulate the release of “feel good” hormones in our body. The feelings created in play clear our mind and decrease nervousness and anxiety.
Supporting our self-care at a deep level, laughter and joy lower our stress hormones, helps to strengthen our immune system and assists in relaxing our nervous system.
What brings you such joy? For me, personally, it has often occurrs most intensely while being in community at a live music event.
As I experience joyful activities, events and interactions with others, I feel the emotions of love and happiness fill me up. My heart opens and my second chakra is activated. Pleasure, creativity and joy are energized in the second chakra and I begin to absorb the information being received by my feelings as I experience this energetic recharge.
While the Grateful Dead taught me the fundamentals of community, I found joy through experiencing the String Cheese Incident.
I’ll never forget sitting on a picnic table before a String Cheese Incident event, surrounded by beautiful friends, and just bursting out in tears, sobbing. I was crying tears of joy, because never before had my heart felt so big, warm and expansive as it did in that very moment. That was THE MOMENT when joy busted loose from my very core.
And from this very core, from my second chakra, the small intestine meridian activates, creating a positive emotional state thought out my body.
When I look at joy from a perspective that includes music, I know that all of my meridians, chakras and energetic systems are being activated and energized through the variety of sounds expressed by the musicians. That, and my never ending smile plastered to my face.
I am blessed to experience these feelings of joy each time I gather with my Cheese Family. The community has a way of looking at life positively, relating to the humanness of people, and sharing their positive energy with those around them. Viva el Queso.
3 REASONS WHY JOY IS ESSENTIAL TO LIFE
1.Joy puts the nervous system into a state of relaxation. Healing occurs as stress levels decrease and the immune system is strengthened.
2. Joy, pleasure and creativity are activated in the second chakra as feelings are absorbed as energetic information in the small intestine meridian, creating a positive emotional state thought out the body.
3. Joy is the emotional state of being that shuts down stress and stimulate the release of “feel good” hormones in the body. The feelings created in play clear the mind and decrease nervousness and anxiety.
Returning to Panama from the recent Hulaween festival in Live Oak, Florida, I’m happy to report that my joy factor is at +10. I invite you to share your joyful experiences in the comments below.
“Don’t think about fun as a reward, think of it as a responsibility” — Richard Branson
